Quickstart: Build your first bot

Write a bot that responds to messages in Teams using the Teams SDK. Pick your language below.

tip

If you haven't registered your Teams app yet, start with Quickstart: Register your app — you'll need the credentials before this code can talk to Teams.

Pick your language

TypeScript

If you scaffolded with teams project new typescript, your src/index.ts already looks like this:

import { App } from '@microsoft/teams.apps';

const app = new App();

app.on('message', async ({ send, activity }) => {
  await send({ type: 'typing' });
  await send(`you said "${activity.text}"`);
});

app.start(process.env.PORT || 3978).catch(console.error);

Part	Purpose
new App()	Reads credentials from .env automatically
app.on('message', ...)	Registers a handler for incoming messages
send({ type: 'typing' })	Shows the typing indicator while you build a reply
send(...)	Replies in the same conversation
app.start(port)	Starts the HTTP server on the given port

Run it:

npm run dev

Continue with the TypeScript guide for events, sending messages, Adaptive Cards, AI, and more.

C#

If you scaffolded with teams project new csharp, your Program.cs already looks like this:

using Microsoft.Teams.Apps.Activities;
using Microsoft.Teams.Apps.Extensions;
using Microsoft.Teams.Plugins.AspNetCore.Extensions;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
builder.AddTeams();
var app = builder.Build();
var teams = app.UseTeams();

teams.OnMessage(async (context, cancellationToken) =>
{
    await context.Typing(cancellationToken);
    await context.Send($"you said '{context.Activity.Text}'", cancellationToken);
});

app.Run();

Run it:

dotnet run

Continue with the C# guide for events, sending messages, Adaptive Cards, AI, and more.

Python

If you scaffolded with teams project new python, your src/main.py already looks like this:

import asyncio
import re

from microsoft_teams.api import MessageActivity, TypingActivityInput
from microsoft_teams.apps import ActivityContext, App

app = App()


@app.on_message_pattern(re.compile(r"hello|hi|greetings"))
async def handle_greeting(ctx: ActivityContext[MessageActivity]) -> None:
    """Handle greeting messages."""
    await ctx.send("Hello! How can I assist you today?")


@app.on_message
async def handle_message(ctx: ActivityContext[MessageActivity]):
    """Handle message activities using the new generated handler system."""
    await ctx.reply(TypingActivityInput())

    if "reply" in ctx.activity.text.lower():
        await ctx.reply("Hello! How can I assist you today?")
    else:
        await ctx.send(f"You said '{ctx.activity.text}'")


def main():
    asyncio.run(app.start())


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

The scaffold registers two handlers: on_message_pattern for greetings and a fall-through on_message for everything else.

Run it:

pip install -e .
python src/main.py

Continue with the Python guide for events, sending messages, Adaptive Cards, AI, and more.

What's next

• Essentials — events, activities, sending messages, authentication: TypeScript · C# · Python
• In-depth guides — Adaptive Cards, AI, MCP, dialogs, tabs, and more: TypeScript · C# · Python
• Quickstart: Register your app — set up bot infrastructure with the Teams CLI